First World War Soldiers Memorial (Wives and Mothers Memorial)

Installed 1921

A small rectangular wall made of sandstone blocks. There is a torch attached to the top of the wall, and a large plaque below it commemorates the place of farewell for soldiers who left for the Great War. Two steps lead up to the plaque, and in the middle of it is a brass drinking fountain.

A soldier in camouflage walks on the footpath past a sandstone memorial. The street is lined with trees and runs along the shore. In the background is a large naval ship.

An Anzac memorial erected by the NSW Centre for Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers commemorates the place of farewell – the gates that soldiers passed through boarding ships to war.

Cowper Wharf Road

Potts Point

Directions and transport

Artist: Unknown

Artwork description

A rectangular sandstone monument, 3m high, 4.5m wide and 1.5m deep with 2 granite steps at the front and 2 forward projecting sandstone walls. The inscriptions are engraved on a central thin granite slab, which features a water bubbler and brass plaque. Above the plaque is a torch made of brass and glass. It was installed in 1921.

The memorial was erected by ‘the women of New South Wales’ under the auspices of the Centre for Soldiers’ Wives and Mothers. It is located on the western side of Cowper Wharf Road (north), opposite the gates through which the soldiers passed on their way to the ships and to war.

- An inscription at the top of the monument reads: To commemorate the place of farewell to the soldiers who passed through the gates opposite for the Great War 1914–1919
- Around the central brass plaque, an inscription reads: NSW Centre for Soldiers Wives and Mothers
- At the bottom, it reads: Erected by the Women of N.S.W. under the auspices of the Centre for Soldiers Wives and Mothers.
- On a small plaque at the base, it reads: This memorial was resited from a position 30 metres east during the construction of the Sydney Fleet Base in 1988